Quality Education: A Systemic Endeavor
(Reflections from field immersion)
By Richa Pandey
‘In order to improve the educational status, it is crucial that all the stakeholders of education, namely parents, children, teachers and bureaucrats are on the same platform,’ he said in response to the question regarding the significant number of dropouts in the school particularly after class VIII. The respondent is a science teacher in a government school in the Nandoor village of Gulbarga district in Karnataka.
This essay tries to examine the aforementioned statement by attempting to explore the roles, responsibilities, aspirations and challenges faced by all the stakeholders in the given context. It uses observations recorded verbatim during visits to school, community and Panchayat office in Nandoor Village and the District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) office located in Kamalapur town in Gulbarga. The visits were conducted between September 10-22, 2018.
The context: Gulbarga/Kalaburagi
Gulbarga, officially known as Kalaburagi, is a major city in the North-East Karnataka region. Geographically, the entire district is in the Deccan Plateau. With black soil being predominant, people either grow foodgrains, like tur and jowar or seek employment in cement, textile and leather industries. Some provide services like teaching, medicine, transportation and hospitality etc.
People speak Kannada, Hyderabadi Urdu, Hindi and English. While the overall literacy rate is 65.7 percent that of females is 55.9 percent. The district is divided into eight blocks and subdivided into 169 clusters. It has 1059 villages being served by 2,967 schools including both government and private, aided and unaided schools. (DISE Report 2016-17)
One such village is Nandoor located 10 km away from Gulbarga. Its total population is roughly 3000. The paintings on the walls of the houses reveal the community the residents belong to i.e., Lingayat (Virashaiva-Hindu), Muslim or Lambani (Banjaras). Some houses are colourful, made of bricks and mortar while others are built using straw and have thatched roof.
Role of parents
The community is a heterogeneous group of families with different socio-economic backgrounds. The interactions with three people in the community regarding the importance of education are described below.
The head of the family in the first house is the head of SMC (School Management Committee) for the last ten years. He said that ‘school and teachers are doing their part, we as parents can spend all that is required, but the effort has to be put by the children only.’ He further introduced all his children by stating which class they currently study in.
The responders in the second case were the grandparents of a child and could not share much about the child’s educational background. His parents were at work in the fields as per their routine.
An interaction with a person walking on the road with a ladder on his back revealed that he had two children enrolled in school. Upon being asked about the classes they were currently in, he thought for a while and said, ‘both are young’.
Given the constraint of time and unavailability of many parents at home, the observations are limited. However, the point to be noted remains that all parents, due to their own occupational challenges, cannot get involved in their child’s education in the same manner. In addition, if the school-going child is a first-generation school-goer in the family, the situation varies significantly. Hence, it becomes crucial that quality learning takes place in school and children remain motivated to continue schooling.
Children’s voices
Children studying in the government school seemed curious and inquisitive. One of them asked me if I was a Muslim. In explanation, he said, ‘You haven’t put bindi and are not wearing earrings’. Certainly, the impact of socialisation was visible.
In the Nali Kali classrooms, students were working in groups and followed instructions given by the teacher. While they rushed out to have milk during the break, they were equally energetic when they came back.
The students of grade VI were actively answering the questions raised by the science teacher; similar was the environment in grade IX during the substitution period taken by the physics teacher. However, students of grade VIII were making fun of their Hindi teacher while she was writing the questions for the test on the blackboard.
During informal interactions, children said that maths and English are the most dreaded subjects and science most loved. Talking about their aspirations, some said doctors, engineers, IAS while others had nothing specific to mention. The uniqueness of children and childhood was evident.
Role of teachers and school
Observation of a science classroom and interaction with the science teacher is described below.
Classroom observation: In a small-sized classroom with a capacity of 20 students where the only source of light and ventilation is a window and the available teaching aid is the blackboard, the teacher taught joints and cartilages to 40 students using her own body as a teaching aid. She ensured the achievement of minimum learning outcome by asking questions to almost every child. The medium of instruction being the mother tongue, it helped foster learning.
Role of technology and infrastructure: The said teacher was well-versed with technology and actively used the science lab for conducting experiments regularly as well as for showing videos using an overhead projector. She took pride in the working models of a grinding machine and a table fan made by her students.
Mantra for change: The teacher believed in working for self-fulfilment and not to impress the BEOs or DDPIs. She believed that if quality teaching is ensured, marks will follow. She recommended strict administration to improve the state of education.
The other teachers at the same school expressed that the reasons behind dropouts and non-performance of students were the lack of parental involvement, lack of interest on part of students, distraction due to electronic gadgets, access to malls, inability to ensure discipline due to ‘no corporal punishment’, no fear of failure among students due to ‘no detention policy’, weak educational foundation etc. One of them mentioned that boys come to school to obtain the certificate of appearing in grade VIII required to work as lorry drivers. Girls are not sent to the city for higher studies for safety reasons. However, the example of the science teacher shows that as much as the aforementioned factors persist, a motivated teacher can inspire children to achieve their true potential. And that the teacher’s role becomes indispensable for first-generation school-goers.
Role of bureaucracy
Using the terminology given by Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model, while the parents and school form a part of child’s microsystem, bureaucracy or government policies are a part of the child’s macro system, that is, the child does not interact with bureaucrats directly, but their decisions impact his/her development. To explain the connection, I wish to use the following four examples.
Scholarship program: The government has directed the provision of scholarship worth Rs 1000/- per annum to all students studying in government schools. After a significant delay in the completion of the process due to the inability of parents to submit caste and income certificates, the strictness shown by the Chief Secretary led to the teachers worked on the day of Ganesh Chaturthi (a holiday) to complete this work. Not just that, they were busy collecting the details on the day prior as well as post the holiday during school hours leading to minimum learning taking place.
Nirantar Jyoti Yojna: The policy aims at providing uninterrupted electricity (for two phases) to the villages. Hence, students get electricity supply during school hours, but farmers cannot run the motors required for irrigation. This instance presents the existing conflict between survival and education while the latter is also crucial for a dignified life.
Role of CRPs: While talking about CRPs, one teacher said that ‘the role of CRPs is no different from that of a postman’. He meant to highlight the workload on CRPs including delivering the BEO’s orders to schools. However, one can also question the efficiency of the system in general and of the officials, in performing their primary responsibility. Only if the officials will move beyond ensuring access (in terms of infrastructure) and monitor classroom teaching, will quality be ensured.
D El Ed: The Principal of DIET apprised us about the pre-service (Diploma in Elementary Education D El Ed) and in-service training programs for teachers, including Teacher Professional Development. Upon being asked if he is satisfied with the structure of D El Ed, he said, ‘After completing the course one can become a perfect teacher.’ This statement makes one wonder if two years are enough for someone to be a ‘perfect’ teacher when it takes a lifetime to even understand who a perfect teacher is.
The bureaucracy plays a major role in shaping the future of children by the policies it implements. As expressed by an ex-BEO, in response to his role in shaping the system, ‘Unless you are a good academician, you can’t satisfy the education system with respect to a child’s learning. To motivate the teachers, one has to be dedicated to one’s own work. Hence, to ensure quality at the administrative level, the government of Karnataka has introduced the Karnataka Education Service exam as well.’
Conclusion
As per the 2016-17 DISE report, Gulbarga district has 6.29 percent, 8.78 percent and 13.69 percent drop out rates at grade I, V, VIII, respectively. Keeping in mind the importance of elementary education in shaping the formative years of a child and in directing his/her future, it is crucial that the child completes at least elementary education. Programs like Nali Kali, teacher professional development, etc. aim at adding quality to the classroom interaction. Interventions by organizations like Azim Premji Foundation and Akshara Foundation have contributed to speeding up the pace of improvement. While the problem of access is taken care of by establishing schools as per the norms, the next task is to ensure that learning takes place effectively.
The question that remains unanswered is that can we expect any qualitative change in the near future if ‘learning’ continues to hold less value than the ‘certificate’ of clearing grade VIII or X? Till when is education going to remain in conflict with survival? Why is it that something as crucial as education took 60 years to become a fundamental right? And how much more time is it going to take to ensure equity in the provision of quality education? Lastly, when and how are we going to move beyond schooling and enter the arena of education? No matter from where one starts, the bottom-line remains that all the stakeholders together must work towards making school a welcoming space for children.
AUTHOR
Richa Pandey is a former student of Education with a focus on School Organisation, Leadership and Management from Azim Premji University, Bangalore. She has taught in several private schools in Delhi and is trained in the pedagogy of Maths and Economics as part of the BEd program from Delhi University. Her areas of interest include alternative schooling, curriculum development, social-emotional learning and systemic change.
Featured photo by Church of the King on Unsplash
